


First Aid

by NanakiBH



Category: Tales of the Abyss
Genre: M/M, Post-Canon, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-02
Updated: 2016-04-02
Packaged: 2018-05-30 16:44:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6432349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NanakiBH/pseuds/NanakiBH
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Even a mistake can be a step forward.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Aid

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this one a little while ago and just hadn't posted it until now. I think the idea for this one may have come to me while I was thinking about what it would be like if we ever got a TOA2.
> 
> A small note here now... I realized that I should primarily refer to Dist as "Saphir" at this point (post-game) because that's how Jade and Peony both refer to him in the drama CDs. So the rule I'm following from now on is "If he's not a part of the God-Generals anymore, he isn't 'Dist'!"

The lab door opened and Saphir sprung to attention, getting out of his chair before Jade had a second to even notice him. Though... Jade didn't seem that interested in noticing him. Like always, Saphir greeted him and received the cold shoulder as Jade busied himself, setting aside the things he brought with him, going across the room to retrieve his lab coat from the rack in the corner.

As he put an arm through one sleeve, he glanced in Saphir's direction and asked, curtly, “Well? Did you get anything done while I was gone?”

Not really. He could have moved ahead with what they had been working on last, but it wasn't as fun without Jade. He wouldn't admit that, of course, but he savored the time when they were together. It meant the world, knowing that Jade found him useful, that he thought he was valuable and had expectations of him – even if Jade never said any of those things out loud. If he hurried up their work, Saphir was afraid that he would run out of usefulness and then Jade and that airheaded emperor would throw him away... He just couldn't be too sure.

Perching himself on the edge of the table, Saphir responded, careful to twist the truth. “I thought it would be best to wait for your input, but I was still productive. For instance...” As Jade came over, sitting himself at the other side of the table, Saphir proudly held up the fruit of his time and hard work. “I present to you – The Prinz Dist!”

Jade regarded the small robot he held with a look of indifference. “What's this? You wasted your time with _that_ ugly little thing?”

“ _Wasted?_ ” Saphir balked, offended that he would refer to the precious product of his labor in such a way. “How dare you. I haven't even told you what it does yet!”

“So?” Jade asked, resting an elbow on the table, placing his chin in his palm, looking more and more uninterested.

In truth, it _had_ just been a time-waster – a spontaneous idea cobbled together from spare parts he found around the lab – but Saphir felt offended on principle. It may have been small and its aesthetics may not have been perfect yet, but the work invested in its creation was all legit.

Placing it on the table, Saphir got down and faced Jade. He placed his hands on his hips and the robot moved with him, its arms going to its sides to mimic his stance. “This little one can do the incredible! Responding to my fonic resonance, it can move the way that I move. It can even move where I will it without me having to move a muscle.” To prove it, he stayed in place and made it totter a few paces toward Jade by itself on its short metal legs. “You see? Impressive, isn't it? Go on and praise me for my genius!”

Jade's eyes narrowed. “You made a weapon.”

His reaction had him taken aback, but Saphir didn't budge. He crossed his arms. “Incorrect!” he said firmly.

“Then what is this supposed to be? This sounds like the first step toward an autonomous weapon.”

He... may have had a point. On its own, that aspect of its design _did_ sound rather dangerous, especially in the wrong hands. But he was its creator. It wasn't meant for killing.

“Now just hang on a second and let me explain what else it can do,” Saphir said. “I repurposed some of the research I put into making the machine I used for making living replicas, so the Prinz Dist is able to harness the seventh fonon in the same fashion, albeit at a much smaller scale. Similar to the spear you carry, it can be used as a conduit for casting fonic artes. It doesn't have to be mobile, but I thought it was much handier this way – and I think that makes it much cooler, despite whatever you have to say about it.”

Finally, it seemed that Jade was starting to understand its purpose. There was definitely some interest in those eyes now. “The seventh fonon? Fonic artes? What do you intend to do with this?” he asked, sounding somewhat concerned but far more curious.

“What else? Allow me to give you a demonstration.”

“This sounds dangerous...” Jade muttered, already preemptively backing up in his chair.

As he placed his hands together, the Prinz Dist followed him, getting into position, ready to cast. Silently, Saphir prayed that his creation wouldn't backfire, aware of the disaster and the consequences he'd invoke if his summoning of the seventh fonon went awry.

“ _O healing power..._ ” It had to work. “ _First Aid!_ ”

The last thing he wanted to do was hurt Jade...

He hadn't even realized that he'd closed his eyes until the following silence became noticeable. Glancing up, hesitantly opening an eye, he found Jade looking at him with a look of utter astonishment. The arte was still in the air, its glistening sparkles falling and fading around him. His reaction didn't seem _bad_ , but Saphir wasn't sure what to make of it either and felt too apprehensive to ask.

Before Saphir could act, Jade got up from his chair and grabbed the robot off the table.

Fearing for his creation, Saphir stretched across the table and swatted at him, desperate to have it returned. “Y-you aren't going to destroy it are you? Give it back, Jade! I know I was just wasting my time, but I still worked really hard on that! I'm not going to do anything else with it! Just don't break it!”

“So this is what became of that machine...” Jade said, his voice sounding distant and ponderous as he looked down at the modest robot in his hands. Fixing his glasses, he looked up at Saphir, suddenly serious. “Can I try it?”

“Huh?” Saphir couldn't keep up. “Oh... U-uh... No, not at the moment. This one was configured to respond to my specific fonic sequence, but I could alter it to work with others, of course. It would be too dangerous to configure it to respond to more than one at a time, so if you think you'll want to keep using the same one, I'd have to make another for you-”

“Could you?”

Saphir blinked. “Y... You want me to... make one for you?”

Jade stared at it a moment longer. The way his gloved thumb traced its surface made Saphir shiver. It must have been his imagination, but he could have sworn he shared the sensation. Slowly nodding, Jade placed it back down on the table, treating it gently.

He didn't answer his question, asking instead, “You completed this in the time I was away?”

Saphir was surprised to hear him acting like it was some great feat. For a normal person, that little 'ugly' robot might have taken a lifetime to create, but he already had the research. It was just a matter of applying it in a different way. Jade still attended to other things around the base and responded to the emperor's beck and call, meaning that he was only able to work in the lab with him during the evening, so there had been enough time for him to piece the robot together while he was away.

“It's not _that_ special.” Saphir gave him a shrug and picked up his robot, holding it protectively. “Half of the research that went into that machine I used to make living replicas was _your_ research, you know, so you could say that this little one is half-yours as well. The work was already done! You may not be a fontech expert like my brilliant self, but I'd be willing to wager that even you could figure out how to put one together if you thought about it.”

Curiously, Jade rounded the table and came over to stand in front of him. Having nothing between them, Saphir couldn't help but feel like he was being crowded, but he stayed in place even as Jade came closer to inspect the robot in his arms. “Are you really saying that you spent time on this without realizing that you were fulfilling the purpose of our research?”

...That didn't ring any bells.

“Huh?”

“You made this for fun, didn't you?” Jade asked. He didn't sound mad, though he did look a bit exhausted.

Was he trying to say that he'd already fulfilled his purpose?

Gritting his teeth, Saphir looked aside. “Well, I... It was _sort of_ for fun, I suppose. I had fun making it. I was mostly looking for something to do with my time while you were away...”

“And no other thought went through your head while you were making this thing? You made a mobile machine that allows you to successfully channel the seventh fonon, but you didn't think anything of it?”

Jade may not have seemed mad, but his voice kept getting louder and Saphir felt intimidated which just made him raise his voice as well. “I know, alright?! It's super useful! You can use it for all kinds of things! So what the heck is your problem? Do you like it or not? Just say it, already! I-I'm getting confused!”

Removing his glasses, Jade scrubbed at his face and took a deep breath. “Saphir...” He paused, holding his tongue, acting conflicted about something he wasn't putting into words. Letting out that breath, he shook his head, shoulders sinking. “Never mind. It's neither here nor there at this point. I was just... imagining what we could have used this for if we had it back then.”

_Back then..._

Now that he put it that way, Saphir understood what he was getting so worked up for.

To him, after they'd climbed a mountain of success and already created the greatest achievement – perfect living replicas – he hadn't bothered to look back at what their research could have done for them in the past. Before they even thought about making a replica of a human being, they simply wished to expand their ability. They wanted to master every fonic arte, to have every fonon under their command. Back then... They may have been able to save her if they had that thing he made overnight... That thing he paid no special thought to.

“At this size, I'm sure it must not be capable of harnessing the amount of fonons required for fomicry – I'm glad it can't,” Jade said, “but this thing has at least enough power to save a life.”

Heart throbbing nervously, Saphir held it a little tighter. “J-Jade...”

“I can't believe I'm saying this, but... Good work, Saphir.”

Just hearing those words made him feel like he might faint. A nervous, hysterical giggle bubbled up from his chest and he pushed a hand back through his hair, trying to pretend like it had all been intentional. “Y-yes, of course! It was really nothing at all! I'm just getting started!”

That uneasy tension was dispelled instantly. Jade gave a chuckle and went back to his seat behind the table. Crossing one leg over the other, he pulled out a file and began looking through his notes. “Then, let's get back to work.”

Really, Saphir wanted to hear him say that again. If it meant working hard, then he would work himself to the bone to hear him always say that he did a good job. It made him unspeakably happy.

He felt foolish, realizing that even his little time-wasting project had unintentionally been for Jade as well. It was always for Jade... Everything.

As long as he could always meet with his satisfaction...

“Um, I know it's unrelated to what we were working on last, but... Do you want me to show you how I made this?” he asked, setting down his robot. Controlling it, he made it walk over to Jade's side and sit in front of him, on top of his notes. “I could help you make your own. That way, you'll know how to repair it if I'm ever not around to fix it. It could... save your life, you know?”

Jade glanced up. For a second, Saphir thought he saw something behind the glare reflecting off his glasses, but it was covered up with one of Jade's usual scowls in the next second, making it hard to tell whether anything had been there at all.

“Does it have to be a robot?” he asked, giving it a poke, making it topple over.

“Hmph! You really have a problem with appearances, don't you?” Saphir huffed, feeling indignant. “It can be whatever you want it to be and it can do whatever you want it to do as long as it has room for the necessary parts. If you want, we can alter something you already use, like the spear in your arm.”

He didn't know if Jade would trust him with something that important. Jade looked at him, his face impassive, then spared a look at his arm. When he looked back at Saphir, he actually smiled – even if it were just one of those amused grins of his.

“Well,” he said, “I've seen the work you did with Tokunaga. Perhaps you'll be modifying everyone's weapons before long.” Placing his hands together, he grasped the end of his spear from his left palm and pulled it out and placed it on the table for him to evaluate. “Okay, then. Hop to it!” he said, clapping his hands.

That wasn't what they agreed on. “H-hey. I thought I was _helping_. I'm not going to do everything.”

“For now, I'll watch.” He grinned wider. “I'll lend you my hands when you need them.”

Was he trying to act sexy...? It was kind of scary.

It was going to be embarrassing to do anything with Jade watching him like that, but he wasn't about to shy away from an opportunity to impress him.

“Suit yourself! You better pay attention!”


End file.
